Integrated circuits (IC) can be fabricated on wafers. A wafer can be a thin slice of semiconductor material (e.g., silicon and germanium) on which ICs can be created using diffusion or ion implantation methods, for example. A wafer can range from one inch to twelve inches in diameter and can contain hundreds of individual ICs.
During semiconductor device fabrication, wafer testing can be performed. Generally, the ICs are tested for defects while they are still on the wafer, for example, prior to being cut into individual dies. During this step, all individual integrated circuits that are present on the wafer can be tested for functional defects by applying specified test patterns to them. The wafer testing can be performed by a piece of test equipment called a wafer prober, for example.
During testing, a wafer prober can generate test patterns and send the patterns to the individual ICs to stimulate the design. Each of the ICs in turn can generate a corresponding output based on the input. The generated output can then be compared to an expected result. If the generated output of a particular IC does not match the expected result, then it can be determined that an error has occurred and the IC that generated the error can be noted as potentially defective on a wafermap. Some of these defects can be repaired because ICs often can be designed with internal spare resources (e.g., extra address lines in flash memory). For example, a wafer can be comprised of a plurality of ICs that each can include memory components (e.g., flash memory). The ICs, including the respective memory components thereon, can be tested prior to the wafer being cut into individual IC chips.
Conventionally, after the memory components are installed into respective packages (e.g., electronic device such as cellular phone, smart card, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.), content, such as applications, personalized data, etc. can be programmed into the respective memory components prior to providing the packages to the end user. Programming each memory device in such conventional manner can be time consuming as each memory component must be connected to a source that can program the content to the memory component.
It is desirable to be able to expeditiously and efficiently program and store content (e.g., applications, personalized information) to memory components during the fabrication process, as this can result in higher productivity and lower manufacturing cost.